England–Finland on Tuesday at 21:45. Live broadcast on TV2 and Areena from 21:10.
Teemu Pukki experienced a rare benching on Saturday when he did not play at all against Greece in this season’s Nations League opener.
Pukki played for the first time in a competitive A national match in September 2011 in the EC qualifiers against Moldova. Since then, Pukki has only been able to play in three of Huuhkaji’s competitive national matches.
The previous times have been the World Cup qualifier against Iceland at home in September 2017 and the home game against Faroe Islands in the European Championship qualifiers in September 2015. In both of them, he sat on the bench for the entire match.
So there were 53 competitive national matches between the previous benching. Pukki has been one of Finland’s biggest football stars for a long time Lukas Hradecky with. The attacker has been an integral part of the A national team for 13 years. Kotkalainen has also become the men’s national team’s all-time best goal scorer.
Pukki described at the press conference before the match against England on Tuesday that his club team season in the North American soccer series MLS in Minnesota has been disappointing.
– Personally, I haven’t been able to play as well as I would like. It hasn’t been that many minutes. I still have good setups for the England game. There’s no point in stressing that there hasn’t been a result in the club team. The national team is a different place. The games here have been going relatively well lately. It’s a good feeling if you go to the field, Pukki described.
Puki was asked what he thinks about the continuation of his career after the disappointments in America and whether there have even been thoughts of returning to Finland.
– Of course, thoughts have come. I have a contract there (in Minnesota) until next summer. There we go. Let’s see what happens. Yes, there are desires to play football again, 34-year-old Pukki describes.
Pukki also suffered from a knee injury in the summer. After recovering from that, Pukki has only been in the starting line-up once and came on the field four times as a substitute. There have been no full 90-minute ones. In ‘s TV interview, Pukki said that the knee injury no longer bothers him.
– There are always desires for the field. Playing in the Suomi shirt is always an honor, Pukki stated.
“It feels like we’re being mobbed from all directions”
Huuhkajat has conceded a lot of goals in this year’s national matches. Finland has played five international matches this year and conceded 14 goals, i.e. almost three goals per match.
Huuhkajie’s head coach also admits the problem Markku Kanerva.
– We have been supported by the fact that we have been able to keep the opponent to a low number of goals. The opponent has kept zero or scored at most one goal. It’s really difficult to win a football match if you concede two or three goals. This is all about balance in terms of offense and defense. You also have to take into account how the gameplay will look like, Kanerva describes.
Huahkajat is currently living through a time of change. Even though Markku Kanerva was allowed to continue as Finland’s head coach, there were new coaching leaders around him. Toni Korkeakunnas and Mika Nurmela were left aside. He was replaced by the head coach of Kuopio Palloseura, which leads the Veikkausliiga Jani Honkavaara as well as national team player legends Teemu Tainio and Tim Sparv.
Despite the changes, the result should also come. Huuhkajat has set the goal of this season’s promotion to the A League in the Nations League. The minimum goal would be to stay in the B-league.
– It is important to be consistent in the game development process. We don’t start pacing. We often learn through mistakes. We analyze the games and, based on that, we draw conclusions about what to modify and emphasize in training sessions and meetings, says Kanerva.
He was injured in the midfield during the preparatory training for the Greece game Kairinen too. Rasmus Schüller broke down in the match itself. According to Kanerva, his situation does not look good considering playing in the England match.
Central defender Robert Ivanov is aware that there has been a negative atmosphere around Huuhkajie. However, according to the top player, it has not been seen in the team.
– It feels like we are being mobbed from all directions. It is partially deserved, as we have lost and conceded a lot of goals. There is still enthusiasm. I know from the past that when things are done with thought and we implement those thought things, good things will happen sooner or later, Ivanov describes.
Gold shoes for Kane, historic goal for Antman?
Right now, England is a tough gauge for Finland, looking at, for example, the team’s offensive material and Finland’s defensive material.
England reached the European Championship silver last summer, even though the manager at the time Gareth Southgaten’s gameplay was widely criticized. Temporary manager by Lee Carsley in the lead, however, England were very convincing and offensively powerful as Ireland went down 2-0 on Saturday.
Carsley said at the press conference before the Finland game that he is not going to change his entire starting line-up against Finland. According to him, it would give the wrong signal, but two or three changes are coming to the opening of a high-quality team.
There will also be an emotional evening for the Englishman. Striker star Harry Kane is playing his 100th international match. Kane already trained on Monday wearing golden shoes in honor of his brand return.
The former head coach of England, who passed away in August Sven-Göran Eriksson will also be remembered in the Finland match. Eriksson’s first competitive international match at the helm of England was specifically against Finland in the World Cup qualifying game in March 2001.
Finland’s forward players Oliver Antman was very critical of his performances in the Greece game on the eve of the England game and said that he couldn’t get anything done. Now he intends to go one better at the iconic Wembley. He gets excited when he hears about the possibility of being the second Finnish goal scorer of all time in a national match at Wembley right from 1976 and Jyrki Nieminen.
– Pretty cool! Now that you said that, yes, that goal has to come from there, Antman piped up.
Updated at 20:49. Added Puki’s comments from ‘s TV interview.